


In The Course of Empire

by LastCorsair



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:22:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26298610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastCorsair/pseuds/LastCorsair
Summary: Ten years ago, the Empire of Vale was attacked by the Kindom of Atlas. Finally, the war is over, and Atlas has surrendered to Vale. Now comes the hardest part of all, forging the peace.
Kudos: 4





	1. Long Drop

"Bring out the condemned."

The voice was clear and commanding in the crisp Atlesian air, and if the speaker was younger than Weiss herself, her voice was calm and steady. Calmer than Weiss herself was at the moment, in any case.

It was just under three months since Valen forces had captured the Atlas City in a daring raid, air-dropping their troops and mecha on the floating city with more of their magitek airships than Weiss would have dreamed existed. She could remember one of her father's generals calling Atlas City "an impregnable fortress with a natural defense no enemy will ever be able to overcome."

The assault had begun in the middle of the night. By mid-afternoon, the last shattered remnants of the city's garrison had surrendered. It turned out that the same isolation that made it 'impossible' to attack made it impossible to reinforce.

To Weiss, that night was a series of images, moments frozen in time. The first was being awakened by a roar of weapons fire outside, followed by an explosion that blew her windows inward, covering the floor of her suite in shards of glass. Atlas may have invented the concept of the blitzkrieg when it launched its war against Vale, but that night Vale proved that the student had become the master. Met with resistance, the response of the invaders had been simple: Overwhelming firepower. Those that stayed out of the way were left alone, those that surrendered were taken prisoner and treated fairly.

When it became obvious that the palace defenses wouldn't hold, the palace guard had tried to get the royal family out, only to find that themselves under attack from within and without. A large part of the palace staff had been Faunus slaves; in hindsight, it should have been obvious that it would be child's play for White Fang commandos to infiltrate them. The guards trying to get Weiss out had fallen one by one, until finally, she found herself huddling in a storage closet, blood running down her face, the gun she'd taken from her last guard's body clutched in her shaking hands. When the door opened, she'd fired blindly, hoping to at least anger them enough to make them kill her quickly. She'd downed the one that opened the door. His teammates had laughed and tossed in some sort of grenade that made a flash and a loud noise, leaving her blinded and her ears ringing. Later she would learn that the commando team that had captured her had insisted on guarding her themselves, as a show of respect.

Come the morning, Weiss had found herself a prisoner in her own home, one guard on the door, another on her balcony, both of them with orders to shoot her if she tried to escape or made too much of a nuisance of herself. She'd spent most of that first day huddled in her bathroom, sobbing, feeling ashamed as she wished that they'd been a little less thorough in stripping it of things she could use to hurt herself. Even that had been interrupted by one of the commandos sticking her head in periodically to make sure Weiss was alright. Or at least as alright as the situation allowed.

On the morning of the third day, Weiss and every other noble the invaders had been able to lay hands on (with one notable exception) had found themselves marched to the city's edge, there to stand before the Scarlet Empress of Vale herself.

Younger than Weiss, the Scarlet Empress had earned the name not because of how she dressed, but because of the rivers of blood her troops had spilled at her command. Not that Weiss could blame her; Atlas had, after all, started the war with the murder of the previous Empress under a flag of truce. It had then launched a blitzkrieg invasion of the Empire of Vale, believing that if they captured enough territory quickly enough, Vale would surrender. And it had worked, for a time. Then the counterattack had come. The war in Vale had turned into a slugging match, Atlas technology versus the unholy hybrid of magic and technology Vale called 'magitek.'

And now it was time for Atlas to pay the price for what it had done. The Scarlet Empress might be a girl of only sixteen, but she had grown up in a country at war. When her father the regent had been assassinated by an Atlesian plot, she'd made up her mind to truly _rule_ , not just reign. Within six months, she'd survived no less than three separate plots to usurp the throne.

On the cold, windy morning after the invasion, the Scarlet Empress had stood there, facing down a line of men that had been scheming and plotting long before she had been born. A Valen soldier had walked down the line, handing out sunglasses as she spoke. "People of Atlas, Vale did not start this war, but we are going to finish it. Three days ago, we captured your capital and many members of your nobility, including your king and the rest of the royal family." That was some relief; at least her family had been captured alive. Weiss regarded the sunglasses she'd been handed curiously before realizing the Empress was wearing a pair herself and put them on quickly. "And now we will discuss terms of surrender.

"Put simply, Atlas will surrender, unconditionally. Atlas will become a vassal state of Vale, and your legal codes will adjust to match ours. The first thing is that all forms of slavery and indentured servitude will be outlawed. Starting now, Faunus will be treated equally under the law with humans. Delaying and stall tactics will not be tolerated on this point."

"And how do you expect to enforce this?" The voice came anonymously from the crowd, and the empress smiled a smile as cold and unforgiving as the most northernmost and desolate reaches of Mantle.

"Like this," she said, turning to face the bay spread out below them.

Suddenly an actinic blue flash erupted from one of the larger islands in the bay, blinding Weiss temporarily and sending out a shockwave that almost knocked her off her feet. The Empress didn't even flinch, leaving Weiss certain that she'd been planning for this moment.

When the roar and some of the dust had subsided, the Empress turned to face the nobles once again, framed by the mushroom cloud rising into the Atlas sky. A shiver ran down Weiss's spine that had nothing to do with the cold weather or how under-dressed for it Weiss was. "For too long, the Kingdom of Atlas has been the belligerent neighbor that others appeased, for fear of its wrath. The Empire of Vale _cannot_ allow Atlas to be a threat to us, ever again. We do not expect every citizen of Atlas to embrace us in their hearts, but Atlas as a whole _will_ bow to us. Insurrection will not be tolerated. Fight us, and your cities will become ash. Cooperate, and we will build a new Atlas, one that is stronger because of the differences between its people, not divided by them.

"One point on which we will not, cannot yield, is that those responsible for atrocities committed during the war must be punished.

One by one, generals, nobles, and officials that had been responsible for atrocities committed during the war had been tried, found guilty, and been sent to the gods at the end of a hangman's rope. And now the last of them was being led out of his cell and into the courtyard.

King Jacques Schnee wore a plain white suit if one far less refined than he'd been accustomed to wearing. The two soldiers escorting him kept a good meter behind him, prodding him gently with the stun wands they were carrying. "Come on you," one of the guards said, none too quietly. "Go out with a little dignity."

Weiss sniffed. At his trial, her father had screamed at his captors, denouncing the trial as illegitimate and calling for the people of Atlas to rise up against the Valen invaders. He didn't bother to deny any of the charges brought against him; instead, he'd admitted to them, even gloried in them, regarding atrocities committed at his command as triumphs. Weiss had known her father was mad with power, but this-! When the sentence of death finally came down, the prospect of his own death finally seemed to have broken him, and now he shuffled toward the platform in a disjointed manner, rather like a puppet whose strings were tangled.

Finally, her father was brought to the top of the steps, the noose tightened around his neck. The Empress stood, her voice carrying across the courtyard. "King Jacques Schnee, you have been found guilty of ordering the murder of my mother, Empress Summer Rose, of ordering the assassination of my father, Regent Taiyang Xiao Long, and of a variety of war crimes, including ordering the firebombing of the city of Vale. For these crimes, you have been sentenced to death by hanging. Do you have any last words before this sentence is carried out?"

Silence filled the courtyard for a moment, then, just as the executioner was starting to reach for the lever, Jacques began to sing. Softly, hesitantly at first, then steadier and steadier, Weiss' father began to sing the Atlas national anthem. She'd hadn't heard him sing since she was a child, and hearing him now, she couldn't help but wonder why, he had such a beautiful singing voice.

The executioner paused, his hand on the lever, looking at the Empress. She gestured for him to wait, listening attentively. Finally, he finished, his head bowed, and the empress applauded. "Thank you for that. Most of your fellows have gone to their end screaming hate at Us. We do not hate the Kingdom of Atlas, nor its people, but We are angry at some of the things that kingdom and some of those people have done, and those responsible must be punished. Farewell, and may whatever gods you hold dear have mercy on you." With that, the empress gestured for the executioner to pull the lever.

The witnesses watched while Jacques Schnee dangled at the end of the rope, swaying in a chilling breeze that seemed to have come out of nowhere just for the occasion. The executioner checked the body before nodding gravely at the Empress. She stood from her chair and turned toward Weiss and her siblings. "And now," Empress Ruby Rose said quietly, "we have matters of state to discuss."

* * *

Half an hour later, Weiss found herself led into what had been her father's favorite conference room, along with her sister, Winter, and brother, Whitley. Waiting for them were the Scarlet Empress, her sister, Yang Xiao Log, the Chieftain of Menagerie and her husband, and a black-haired Faunus woman Weiss didn't recognize. As soon as the door shut behind them, the empress surprised by stepping forward and hugging Winter, then taking a step back, holding Weiss' sister at arms' length. "Winter, I'm sorry to put you through all this."

Her sister's response made Weiss frown. "I appreciate that, Ruby. I understand the necessity of it even if…" Winter drew a deep ragged breath. "My father may have been cold and distant, and done terrible things to your kingdom and its people, but he was still my father. I… I need time."

Ruby nodded and opened her mouth to speak, then stopped, looking at Weiss. "Is something wrong?"

Weiss stiffened, mentally chastising herself for letting her reaction show. "I didn't realize the two of you were so… familiar," she answered carefully, trying to keep the anger she felt out of her voice.

Ruby and Winter looked at each other, but it was Ruby that spoke first. "When the sentence of death finally was handed down for your father, I sat down and had a long talk with Winter. I was trying to set us on the road toward a sound working relationship, but I think we're on our way to building some mutual trust and respect."

"I will agree, although it's probably best if we don't appear _too_ friendly in public. If it looks like we're getting along too well, it will make things harder for me here." Winter started to sit down at her usual place, the seat that would have been at her father's right hand, then stopped, resting a hand on the ornate arm of her father's chair. "I suppose this is my place now, or should it be yours, Ruby? The protocol is a touch vague on this point."

Ruby laughed and gestured Winter to the chair. "Eh, I don't think there's really set protocol on this one. I think we'll say that's your chair all the time, and get something appropriate made up for me when I visit. For now, let's keep things informal. Public face versus private face, right?" She matched action to words by flopping down in the chair at the opposite end of the table from Winter, the one Jacques Schnee had usually reserved for someone that had displeased him greatly. Ruby stretched her arms and legs wide. "Sorry, sitting so still for so long, I've got a lot of pent-up energy."

Yang coughed gently, pulling everyone's eyes to her. "Uh, sis, matters of state and all?"

"Right." Ruby gestured toward the table and everyone took a seat, Yang to her sister's right, the unnamed Faunus woman on Ruby's left, the Chieftain and her husband halfway down the table, and Weiss and Whitley on either side of Winter.

Weiss hesitated before sitting down, noticing how the nameless Faunus reached out and took the Empress' hand. Who was she, and what was her place here? She had the air of a predator about her, like a snow leopard or panther, and Weiss would have bet everything she had left to her name that the woman had some serious combat training.

"Okay, orders of business. Winter, you were your father's heir, so the crown of Atlas falls to you. Given the circumstances, I'd like to have the coronation as quickly as possible. Atlas law says you have to be confirmed by parliament first, right?"

Winter nodded. "Correct, but I would recommend not rushing to bring the issue before parliament just yet. The courts are still working through all the inheritance issues, given all the titles changing hands. The political aspects are complicating things; if a magistrate hands over a title to someone supporting you, they look like they've been pressured to do so. But they're also worried about passing a title to someone who's calling for armed resistance…." Winter shrugged.

"Ugh." Ruby slumped in her chair. "I'd rather have honest opposition than syco-syco-"

"Sycophants?" the still-nameless woman suggested.

"Sycophants, yeah, thanks, Blake. I don't want to meddle unless there's a title that's going to somebody who's literally ready to start the war again tomorrow." The empress shrugged. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Okay. Winter, let the magistrates overseeing the inheritance issues know that the Empire regards the transfer of titles to be an Atlas internal civil matter, and will not interfere, so far as Atlas law is followed. With one exception," she added as Menagerie's Chieftain shifted in her seat. "If there's a Faunus who would not have previously been able to inherit due to being a slave or indentured, then that person will be given full consideration, the same as any human heirs. Complaints may be filed with the White Fang commandos. Feel free to use those exact words."

Weiss and Winter looked at each other, neither one wanting to speak. Finally, Winter let out a bark of laughter. "Weiss, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If you're thinking of the late Lord Winchester, you are." The sisters shared a dark chuckle.

"Somebody want to let the rest of us in on the joke?" Yang said, leaning back in her chair and putting her boots on the table.

"Please, Your Highness, have some respect for my furniture. Just because it was my father's favorite table doesn't mean it isn't a beautiful piece of furniture. Well," Winter stopped to compose herself, "the late Lord Winchester was well known for… entertaining himself with the Faunus members of his household staff. Rumor has it that a large portion of the current staff are his children and grandchildren."

"Some of whom are older than his son Cardin, and have children of their own," Weiss mused, one corner of her mouth lifting in a malicious smirk. "Cardin tried to put his hand up my skirt, once. It cost his father a bill he was pushing in parliament."

"Hm. The Chieftain of Menagerie (Kali, that was her name, Weiss remembered now) leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "Would it distress anyone in this room very much if the Chieftain of Menagerie offered to pay for the genetic testing needed to support any Faunus claimants to Lord Winchester's title? Or other titles?"

Yang burst out laughing, overbalancing her chair and sending her tumbling to the ground. "Oh, man, that's one way to get Faunus in Parliament. I'd pay to see that!"

Weiss leveled her gaze at Kali. "For doing that to Cardin, I could almost forgive you certain things," The scar across her left eye twinged for a moment, and she repeated, "Almost."

Kali dipped her head in a brief nod. "As Empress Ruby says, better an honest enemy than a dishonest friend."

"And that brings us to another matter," Ruby said, clearing her throat with a grimace. "Pretty soon, we'll be withdrawing most of our troops from Atlas. A small detachment will remain, both to see to the security of the viceroy and to, let's be honest, handle things the Atlas army can't or won't handle." Ruby's silver eyes locked on Winter's, and for a moment the Scarlet Empress sat with them. "You may call upon them, Queen Winter, but do so carefully and discreetly."

She shook her head before she continued. "And one more matter that's kind of silly, but people in the Vale parliament are pushing for it. They want a member of the Atlas royal family to come to Vale, as a hostage against Atlas's good behavior."

"That's ridiculous!" Whitley yelled, coming to his feet. "Atlas will never stand for it! There'd be rioting in the streets at the very idea."

"I don't think so, Whitley," Winter said quietly. "You haven't been paying attention to the news feeds lately. Most people are tired of the war and see that Vale had a legitimate reason for striking back at us. Our father was not nearly as well-loved as you might think. Feared, perhaps, but not loved or even respected."

"I'll go." Weiss was surprised to find that she was the one who had spoken. "A hostage might be an old-fashioned idea, but it will make for a good token gesture. As the empress said, it will appease some of her people at home, and some of the nobility here in Atlas will appreciate the gesture, and my sacrifice."

"Please, call me Ruby. I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

''As your majesty commands," Weiss answered, bowing her head.

* * *

And with that, everything changed. Less than an hour later, Weiss found herself wandering the palace where she had grown up freely once more, with no more escort than the empress's half-sister. Even the Vale army troops serving as palace guards had already gotten the message, not ignoring her but more focused on looking for threats than tracking her movements. As they wandered down a corridor toward Weiss' suite, her eye caught sight of a groundskeeping crew, still working to undo the damage done the night of the invasion

Two things passed through Weiss' mind at that moment. The first was now that the Faunus on the work crew were free and not slaves, they kept on doing the same job, but now they tackled it with greater vigor. The second was that the palace gardens had existed for hundreds of years, and it would take years if not decades to restore them, but they would never truly be the same.

"Man, it will be good to get home," the blonde woman said, shattering Weiss' concentration as she stretched her arms over her head. "I don't think there's a decent beach anywhere in Atlas. Shore's too rocky, the water's too cold. You ever been to a beach, Weiss? And the food! It's all seafood and vegetables, not a noodle to be found. And does it ever get warm here? I mean the kind of warm that you feel down to your bones."

"I have never been to a beach. If you think this is cold, I suggest you hang around until winter. You can try your hand at a polar bear plunge if you like. And if you despise our food that much, feel free to starve until we leave!" Weiss snapped, leaving the Yang standing there, stunned.

"I'm sorry, Weiss," Yang said, her face downfallen. "I just… I miss home. I guess you haven't traveled much, huh? Me neither. I mean, dad tried to make things as normal as he could for us, but it was hard, with the war and all. He was busy being regent, and Ruby being the heir, she was busy learning how to be empress. I could have gone without them, but it just didn't seem right. So I'm sorry about being glad that the war's over, and I'm getting to go home without that looming over our heads."

"Apology accepted, Your Highness. I am… having trouble adjusting to the way things are now."

Yang laughed, a bright, friendly sound that seemed out of place in the somber halls of the palace. "Okay, first of all, too many titles flying around for all these 'Your Majesties' and 'Your Highnesses' you keep tossing around. I've got a name, use it, okay? Unless we're in a formal setting. I'm not big on titles, because I'm only technically a princess, and if we are in a formal setting, don't forget Blake, okay?"

Weiss blinked, surprised. "You're only technically a princess? Is that why Ruby inherited the throne, even though you're sisters? And I wasn't aware that Blake held a title, I should apologize to her for that.."

"You know what, let's find somewhere to sit down and something to drink, my family history's kinda convoluted," Yang answered, jerking a thumb toward the gardens outside Weiss had been watching a moment ago.

Shortly they found themselves seated on a patio, coffee and some delightful cookies brought to them by one of the staff. "Okay, here's my family history, starting from the beginning. Ruby and I have different mothers, but the same father. Our father, Taiyang Xiao Long, was an Imperial official. On a trip to Vacuo, he got kidnapped by Vacuan separatists. My mother Raven Branwen, was a mercenary, and she's the one that rescued him, mostly because the separatist leader owed her money. Mom's was like that. She tried to settle down with dad, mostly for my sake, but, well, she never took to the home and family thing, so after a while, she bailed on me and dad."

"Where is she now?" Weiss asked, reaching for a cookie. Oh, sea spiral puffs, her favorite.

"Dead, probably. Right after your dad killed Empress Summer, her and some of her friends got it in their head that he deserved the same. They went off to kill him and we never heard from them again." Yang sighed and grabbed a sea spiral puff of her own before continuing.

"Anyway, Summer and dad had always been close, and she needed a husband that wasn't a total waste of space and air, so one day she proposed to him and then along comes Ruby, my little half-sister." Yang laughed, shaking her head. "When I was five or six, Summer formally adopted me, placing me in the line of succession right after any descendants of Ruby's."

"So that's why you say you're only technically a princess," Weiss said, dipping a cookie in her coffee and chewing it thoughtfully. Her father had always berated it for the habit, but it had become the principle of the matter, a small defiance he could not take from her.

And now he was gone. Weiss shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. For all his faults, Jacques Schnee had been her father, after all, and his rare moments of affection were still some of her brightest memories.

"Are you okay?" Yang reached out and laid a hand on Weiss' arm, starting her. "You just, you looked a little lost there."

"I was remembering my father," Weiss said quietly. "We had very different childhoods, you and I. You were living through a war, while I was singing in concert halls and attending balls, being dangled as a marriage prospect for the sons of men my father needed to convince of one thing or another." She sighed. "Your invasion shattered my world, but now I am more free than I ever dreamed. I feel like I'm falling from an incredible height, waiting to hit the ground."

"Well, you could always try learning to fly," Yang said, giving Weiss a grin that was warmer than the warmest summer day Weiss could remember.

The white-haired girl nodded and smiled weakly, grateful for the encouragement. Then something made her look down at Yang's hand. "Are you wearing gauntlets or something? Your hand feels like it's covered in metal."

"Not covered in metal, made of metal. The right one at least." Yang pulled the glove off her right hand and rolled up her sleeve, revealing a black and yellow prosthetic arm. "I've kept it covered because you don't have magitek prosthetics like this, here in Atlas."

"Mm." Weiss turned the arm over, marveling at its construction. "If I may ask, how were you injured?"

"I lost it the night dad died." Now it was Yang's voice that was full of pain. My arm was trapped under some debris, and to save my life, someone cut it off so they could get me out of there. That night, I, I don't want to talk about it right now."

"I suppose our lives have scarred both of us," Weiss said, reaching up to touch the scar she'd acquired the night of the Vale invasion. "To scars," she said, lifting her coffee cup in a mock toast.

"Yeah, to scars."


	2. Moments of Transition

Weiss lifted her coffee cup to her lips, frowning as her new scroll chimed the arrival of a message. She loathed the little devices, always nagging their owners about one thing or another, but everyone from Vale seemed obsessed with the nuisances and regarded them as essential. So several days ago Weiss had gritted her teeth and finally gotten a scroll, one she was promised would work Vale as well as Atlas.

She'd regretted the decision instantly.

At least it hadn't been hard to acquire what the empress and her friends seemed to think a reasonable level of competence with the device. With the hand not holding her coffee, Weiss opened her scroll and set about reading the message.

"You don't like that thing, do you, ma'am?"

"No, I don't, Ilia," Weiss answered distractedly, trying not to let her annoyance at the message's contents show on her face. "In fact, I rather despise it. Please, Ilia, pour yourself a cup of coffee and sit down."

The maid paused, her hands reflexively reaching for a cup at the command. "Ma'am, I can't-"

"Have. A. Seat." Weiss set both the scroll and her cup down, the cup clinking gently as it touched the plate. "Ilia, you haven't been part of the palace staff long, but you quickly became my favorite among the maids assigned to this wing. Do you know why?"

Ilia gulped as she sat down in the chair farthest from Weiss, shrinking in on herself and trying to be as small as possible. "I have no idea, ma'am, but I did kind of wonder why you seemed to keep your brother from punishing me."

Weiss turned her head slightly, looking out the windows of her suite at the dawn just now making itself known across the city of Atlas. Everything looked so normal, just like it had months ago before the night Atlas lost the war. Give the growing dawn half an hour and the lie would be revealed, the city's wounds revealed for everyone to see. The fighting had been mercifully brief and the damage light, but it was still there. "Because you, out of all the slaves, still had a measure of dignity. You still held yourself a little more erect than was proper, had a bit too much defiance in your eyes. Do you remember what I said to my brother, the first time he tried to beat you?"

The Faunus girl's eyes stared down at her hands in her lap, trembling with fear. "You said, 'She has a point, Whitley, and apparently more sense than you. And if you ever touch her, I'll do twice as much to you, dear brother. She's the only person in this palace that isn't afraid to tell someone what they don't want to hear.'"

"My exact words. The next morning, I told Klein I wanted you as my personal maid. And you haven't disappointed. If I could have gotten away with it, I would have freed you, sent you off to Mistral. But all I could do was make sure you were treated as well as I could."

Hesitantly one of Ilia's hands reached up, touching her throat where a slave collar had once marked her as the property of the royal household. "I, I tried to be good, ma'am, to obey, but-"

"Stop. Some people just can't find it in themselves to bow their head, even when they should, and you are one of them. It's a quality I've found useful in you. Now, pour yourself a cup of coffee and look up at me. This isn't an interrogation or a reprimand, it's a job interview." Weiss picked up her cup again and sipped carefully, fighting a shiver of malicious glee the other girl's stunned reaction.

"The position you're being offered is, well, I suppose the title is usually 'personal assistant,' at least until I leave for Vale. Your job will be to help me remember where I am supposed to be and when, and what I'm supposed to do when I'm there, what I'm supposed to be wearing, that sort of thing. And not just to help me clean up my messes, but to help me keep from making them in the first place. In fact, now that I think about it, you've sort of been doing that for me anyway, just without the title or the pay. Which I intend to be far better than you're making now as a maid. Do you feel up to the challenge?"

"I, uh," Ilia gulped, "I don't know how to be anything fancy like a 'personal assistant."

"Oh, I think you'll be the best personal assistant I've ever had."

Ilia laughed and finally looked up at Weiss, her gray eyes wide with shock. "Ma'am, you don't have any staff of your own, not like that crowd your brother has."

"All of whom are too busy kissing his ass to get any real work done." Weiss leaned forward, propping her chin up on her hand. "Well, are you interested?"

"I, I can try, ma'am." Now the Faunus girl sat up straight, taking a deep breath. "So, what do you want me to do first?"

The hand not holding up Weiss' chin tapped on her scroll. "The first order of business is dealing with this message. Apparently, our much-delayed viceroy will finally be arriving today, sometime around noon. So you have about five hours to get yourself a Scroll and something appropriate to wear today. There will be a welcoming ceremony for their arrival, an informal reception tonight to welcome them, and then a formal welcoming banquet when everything's ready."

"The kitchen staff will be glad to get that over with, even on short notice," Ilia muttered, her brow furrowing. "That stupid banquet's been planned, prepared for, and canceled three or four times over the past few weeks."

"I am well aware, trust me." Weiss looked down at her scroll, reading the message from Ruby again, then looked back up at Ilia. "Are you still here?"

* * *

Just a hair under five hours later, Ilia found herself rushing toward the airstrip at what had been the Atlas garrison's headquarters. After the city had fallen, the Valen forces had co-opted the facility for their own use, including an improvised secure airship port. Practically before her taxi had stopped, Ilia was out the door, running toward the rather intimidatingly fortified gate. A mech's cannons tracked her as she patted herself down, searching for the hastily-prepared ID she'd been given that morning by an amused Klein Sieben. "Sorry," she gasped, handing the ID to the scowling gate guard. "I'm Princess Weiss's new personal assistant, she literally hired me over breakfast this morning, I was a maid yesterday, and she's already called me twice wanting to know where I was. Any chance I could get a lift to where she's waiting for the viceroy?"

The guard grunted and ran her ID, then pointed a finger at another trooper. "Private, get Miss Amitola here over to where the Empress and her party are waiting, and be quick about it."

Quick about it indeed. It wasn't more than five minutes before Ilia found herself presenting her ID again, this time to a White Fang commando who looked spectacularly unimpressed by Princess Weiss' brand-new personal assistant. When Weiss saw her, she raised an eyebrow, drawing attention to her scar as she looked Ilia up and down. "Acceptable, given that it was purchased off the rack, which I'm assuming it was, given the time constraints. And a Scroll?"

Ilia nodded, pulling the device out of her pocket to prove she had it. "It's not a great one, but it'll do. The clerk looked at me strangely when I asked him for one that would work in Vale, but he admitted he wasn't sure about it, so I went with a cheap one for now. And I had to go to three places before someone would wait on me for the clothes, and yes, I wrote down the names of the places, and the names of the clerks that didn't want to 'waste their time' with me or threatened to call the cops, and I even got the taxi numbers of the taxis that wouldn't bring me to the base."

Weiss nodded, embarrassment bringing a flush of red to her normally pale cheeks. Even she had to admit her temper could be rather… breathtaking when roused, and to be fair, it was incredibly tempting to let it slip the leash on this occasion, but she was trying to behave herself at the moment. More or less. "No, I don't think that will be necessary. When we're a little less constrained for time, I will arrange a better wardrobe for you, and I will make it clear beforehand that if I send someone to them, I expect that person to be well-treated, regardless of who it is. I don't care if it's a goddamn Goliath with a pink bow around its neck!" At a door across the room, a staffer peeked their head in, then gestured for Weiss to follow them. Ilia tagged along behind her, partly because she thought that's what a personal assistant was supposed to do, but mostly because she wanted a front-row seat for the ensuing shenanigans.

At the sight of Ilia, Winter raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. "Our new viceroy will be here in about five minutes. And later we are going to have to discuss your latest temper tantrum at length, sister."

"I said I was sorry," Weiss growled.

"Again, something we will have to discuss at length, and not here. It's proving rather… interesting to untangle." With that, Winter turned toward the landing pad, watching as the viceroy's airship and its escorts drew closer, growing from dots into full-size vessels.

"Everything okay?" A hand settled on Weiss' shoulder startling her for an instant before she realized who it was. "There's probably nothing you can do, Yang. I… got carried away and made a mistake. I have to live with the consequences."

"Yeah, well, I've got your back, just in case you need it." The unexpected words were oddly comforting, but before Weiss could think about them too much or ask Yang what she meant by them, the viceroy's airship landed and the passenger ramp lowered.

As a band began to play the Valen national anthem, the viceroy appeared at the head of the ramp, making her way down it carefully. Weiss had met Glynda Goodwitch only a handful of times and thought she seemed more like a pissed-off schoolteacher than a high-level government official. When Glynda reached the bottom of the ramp, she nodded her head to Ruby. "Your Majesty," she said quietly before turning to Winter. "And it's still Your Highness, I'm told, unless the Atlesian parliament has had a sudden attack of reasonableness while I was en route."

"Unfortunately, yes, Viceroy. Contenders for the throne are still crawling out of the woodwork, each one's claim less sound than the last, and Parliament is pretending to consider each one carefully. To be honest, the only two reasonable candidates are myself and Weiss, and Weiss has said she will support me rather than seek the throne herself."

"I see." Now Glynda turned toward Weiss. "And how are you this morning, Your Highness?"

"Good, thank you, viceroy" Weiss answered with a bow.

"And rather busy, I hear," the Viceroy said, turning to face Ruby again. "I must apologize for the delays in my arrival, Your Majesty. My fiancee had medical issues, and I didn't want to leave Vale without them being settled."

Ruby blinked, startled, but recovered her composure almost immediately. "We understand wanting to resolve a personal matter like that before taking up the office of viceroy, but… Glynda, I didn't even know you were engaged. When do I get to meet them? When's the wedding?"

Glynda laughed at Ruby's confusion. "We've had an understanding for some time, but he refused to make it official until the war was over. As for when you get to meet him… James? You can come out now," she called toward the hatch.

Both Weiss and Winter's mouths fell open in shock as a dead man walked down the ramp.

After the siege of Vale's capital (also named Vale) fell apart, General James Ironwood had been left in command of the shattered remnants. He'd fought tooth and nail to hold on to the territory Atlas has seized in their attempt to take the city, throwing together desperate defense after desperate defense, trying to save as many men and as much equipment as possible.

It hadn't been enough.

Atlas's forces had been pushed back to their initial landing point, a third of their original men and a tenth of their equipment huddled behind a final redoubt, waiting for the transports Atlas had promised to take them home. In the final hours, Ironwood had taken command of the defenses himself, refusing to board the transports until everyone else had gone.

Most of the men had made it out. General James Ironwood had not. To the people of Atlas, he was a hero and a martyr.

He wore it well, marching up to Winter and snapping a parade-ground salute that fit strangely with the Vale-style civilian suit he wore. "General James Ironwood reporting for duty. My apologies for not informing you of my survival sooner, but we weren't sure I was going to survive my surgeries or be fit to travel."

"I don't understand," Winter said, looking back and forth between Ironwood and Glynda.

Ruby giggled at Winter's confusion but schooled her expression into something more serious. "General Ironwood was severely injured in the fighting for Atlas' last redoubt. The doctors weren't sure he was going to make it, but our side always respected him because he fought as clean a war as his orders would allow, so they did their best to keep him alive. Glynda was in charge of the facility he was housed in, and, well, they did a lot of talking. It was the only thing he could really do, you see. After the war, he opted for reconstructive surgery before returning to Atlas. Glynda proposed to him as soon as she heard. But, um, it was rocky going for a while."

Winter shot Ruby a sharp look. "And you didn't tell me because…?"

"My fault," Ironwood answered before Ruby could speak. "If I died on the operating table, it was better for Atlas if I died a hero rather than a desperate fool. If I lived, well, I could serve as a living symbol of Atlas's future."

It was Weiss that found her voice first. "Magitek prosthetics. How extensive are they?"

"Very perceptive, Princess Weiss. Most of the right half of my body, I'm afraid. I'm rather high-maintenance these days."

Before Winter could say anything, Ruby added, "The Throne will be covering his medical needs, of course. He's something of a research project for some of our finest surgeons."

"I," Winter stopped, wetting her lips before continuing, "I understand why you chose not to let us know about your survival, but I think it would have been appropriate to at least inform me! Pranks like this are quite inappropriate for an officer of your rank, General Ironwood. As for your resurrection, well, I leave that to the Army to sort out. Any other surprises, Your Majesty?" she finished, glaring at Ruby.

"Nope, that's it. Lunch?"

* * *

As the car slowed to a halt, the soldier waiting at the base of the steps opened the door, saluting Weiss sharply. "Welcome to the Viceroy's Residence, ma'am."

Weiss nodded absentmindedly, looking up at the familiar-yet-new house. Before the invasion, the house had belonged to her father's master of propaganda, the woman in charge of telling the people of Atlas whatever lies the king had needed to keep justifying the war. She'd been tried and found guilty not of the blatant lies she'd passed off as news, but for ordering the massacre of Atlas soldiers that had been returned as part of a prisoner exchange, then blaming Vale for it. The woman had committed suicide before she could be hanged.

"Your people are slipping tonight, Colonel," Weiss said to the commander of the White Fang commandos in charge of the Empress's security. "I spotted two of them as the car drove up, possibly a third, but I'm not sure of the last one."

"Three?" The man turned his head to look at her, his expression unreadable under the mask that covered the top half of his face. "Where?"

"One in a tree, half-way up the drive, with what I think was a sniper rifle of some sort; it was the barrel of the weapon that caught my eye. Another hiding in some bushes near a pond; I caught their reflection in the pond's surface. And the one I'm not sure of is trying to disguise himself as a small grassy mound near the house. I'm fairly certain they're not supposed to move like that. Those are the ones that aren't supposed to be seen, of course." She stopped, waiting for his reaction.

"Three." He grunted. It was a game she played when visiting what had been the Empress' residence, now the Viceroy's, spotting the security people hidden nearby. "Correct on all three. The usual forfeit will suffice, I assume. Excuse me." And with that, he started off across the lawn, headed directly for the mound that had gotten Weiss' attention. Someone was about to have a very bad evening.

"Usual forfeit?" Ilia whispered, tearing her eyes off the departing colonel.

"There's a liqueur from Mistral that I'm fond of. The colonel has a steady supplier, and now he owes me three bottles."

Ilia nodded, making a mental note to get the name of the liqueur so she could find a supplier later. She'd managed to find some time that afternoon to do some reading on what a personal assistant actually did, and being able to get your boss' favorite booze seemed to fit the description.

Weiss idly plucked a glass of champagne from a waiter's tray as her eyes scanned the room, looking for someone to have a long conversation with that would keep her away from her sister. Most of the people in the room were holdovers from her father's government, and the only reason they were still alive and not hanged with the others was that there wasn't enough evidence to convict them. They were being watched, though.

"Weiss!" Ruby's voice carried across the room, and Weiss reflexively looked to see what the Empress wanted. Oh, wonderful. The redhead was sitting around a coffee table with Winter, Glynda, Ironwood, Yang, and Blake. With a sigh, the white-haired girl headed over. Time to face the music.

Glynda gave Weiss an amused look. "Your sister tells us that you've caused her quite the problem in the last couple of weeks, despite some good intentions."

"Winter..." Weiss said wearily.

"Weiss, it's an interesting story, and the Empress has been asking what has the treasury screaming for your head on a pike.." Winter gave Weiss a stern look. "Plus it's proof positive of the saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Now, do you want to tell it, or shall I?"

"Yeah, snowflake, spill. Come on, how bad can it be?" Yang was grinning, a beer stein in hand. "Here, have a real drink, not that fizzy water."

Weiss just glared at her sister, drinking deeply from the stein Yang handed her. The brew within was surprisingly good. Not something she would normally drink, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Winter just shrugged it off, gesturing at her sister with her own drink. "My little sister," she said, drawing out the sentence, "overheard some of the palace staff complaining about being forced to work on renovating their quarters after their shift was done. You see, after all the slaves were officially freed, one of the first things I did was order the slave quarters renovated, to bring them up to housing codes."

Blake silently toasted Winter with her drink, not wanting to interrupt the story. Winter nodded slightly in acknowledgment and carried on. "Weiss looked into what was going on and found that the housing supervisor was buying substandard materials and using the staff for the work, making them do another eight hours of work a day after their normal shift was done. Most of the money was going in his pocket."

"So I had him arrested, and brought in a proper contractor. Who told me that it would be faster, less expensive, and far easier to knock the slave housing down and build new housing in its place. Honestly, it was barely up to code even for slave housing. Father always was a cheap asshole." Weiss took another sip of her beer. She could almost forgive her sister the public humiliation for the good beer. Almost.

"The problem is, this option left the Faunus workers with nowhere to live," Winter added, a twinkle in her eye.

"What'd you do?" Yang gave Weiss an amused grin.

A rough voice came from behind Ruby. "She bought an apartment complex. And hired a security company, because everyone that'll be staying there works in the palace after all."

"Uncle Qrow! When'd you get here!?" Ruby launched herself over the back of her couch, tackling the man who'd snuck up behind her.

Qrow laughed. "I hitched a lift with James and Glynda. Everyone was so busy watching the two of them that nobody noticed poor little me."

Winter and Weiss shared a look. Colonel Qrow Branwen had started the war as an intelligence officer, but he'd ended up commanding the shattered remnants of a hovertank division. Never having trained in conventional tactics, Branwen had proceeded to improvise, figuring that if they were going to get killed, they might as well make as much trouble as possible first. Branwen had even brought his hovertanks in over the ocean in the teeth of a howling storm, overwhelming the Atlesian force occupying a town and earning him the nickname "Stormcrow."

Ironwood laughed. "I didn't even notice he was aboard until he came up to the lounge to raid the bar."

"You were too busy marveling at the fact that you had two good hands and two legs to stand on to notice much of anything, James." Qrow disentangled himself from his hyperactive niece and plopped her back on the couch next to Blake. "Cool it down, kiddo. Yeah, it's an informal reception, but you're still the Empress. No rest for the wicked."

Ruby's pouting made Blake laugh. "So, Weiss, you bought an entire apartment complex to house the Faunus staff? That had to be expensive."

"Over ten million Lien," Winter mused, sipping her champagne.

"It's still under construction, and the owners first balked at renting the finished sections to me as a block, then tried to get five times the going rate for similar housing." A stray thought made Weiss smirk. "The interesting part is, the original owners tried to get their money back from the contractor building it, canceling the remaining work. The contractor declined."

"Probably has something to do with it being the same company you hired to build the new quarters on the palace grounds. Bird in the hand and all," Qrow said with a laugh.

Winter frowned at him. "And you know all of this how?"

"I was an intelligence officer before I got stuck driving a tank. Finding out the local dirt comes naturally. Anyway," Qrow toasted James and Glynda, "congratulations. We'll be seeing a lot of each other, given that I'm the commander for your security detachment. I asked them for a nice, quiet assignment somewhere with a beach, and look where that got me. A crow among the pigeons."

The group chattered and laughed, finding the things they had in common outweighed their differences. A face in the crowd drew Weiss' attention, and she stood, making her way over. "Minister Watts, how are you this evening? I hope you're enjoying yourself."

Watts nodded at her. "Princess Weiss, how are you? I'm finding this affair… interesting. Adapting the Ministry of Justice to better fit the adaptations Vale is demanding to our legal system is quite a challenge."

Weiss nodded sympathetically. "Change is an ever-present thing these days. I had to hire a personal assistant to help me keep track of where I'm supposed to be and what I'm doing."

"Is there something specific you need from me, Princess Weiss?" Watts asked, his mustache twitching.

"I was wondering if you've made any progress finding the remaining Valen prisoners of war, particularly the ones taken right after Empress Summer's assassination."

Watt shrugged. "Sadly, no. They're in our system, probably, but the building holding our server farm was one of the buildings damaged in the invasion. We're still working on recovering all of our data."

"I see. Please let me know when you find them. Excuse me, I need some air." Weiss stepped outside, heading for the front porch. Once there, she sought out the White Fang commander again.

"Princess," he said, nodding his head in place of a bow.

"Colonel Taurus, I need a favor..."


End file.
